Education about HIV has advanced, thank goodness

Ramblings, mutterings, keen observations and things you ought to know out of Helena from the mind of Phil Drake.

SAD MEMORIES: I had the privilege Monday of meeting Dr. Raymond Geyer as the Great Falls Clinic physician was honored at Montana’s World AIDS Day event for his longtime work with HIV.

It turns out that the good doctor and I are the same age, 56, and I only bring that up because I mentioned to him how far the treatment of HIV has come in my lifetime.

I look back with some shame at my first reactions to the disease, but so little was known about it back then.

In the early 1980s, I had a colleague who had read about HIV in Time magazine and thought about writing an article about it for this little twice-weekly paper in northwest Ohio where we worked. I told her I doubted that the mostly God-fearing agricultural community that made up our readership would care.

It was an honest answer, and it was also a stupid answer. And I still kick myself for it.

A few years later, I had moved to Southern California where the AIDS epidemic struck fear in the hearts of many.

I can remember in 1991 when Magic Johnson said he was HIV-positive and how that was major front page news. Thank goodness he is still with us.

And at Monday’s observance, which was put together by the Department of Public Health and Human Services and attended by about 25 people, my heart sank as Mary Jane Nealon, the keynote speaker who had been on the frontlines in the battle against the disease, wept as she spoke about those who died.

But as Geyer and I chatted Monday the now-usual refrain of “It isn’t a death sentence anymore” came up. It’s amazing how far we have come.

I think I’ve changed in those 30-some years since I first heard of HIV and AIDS.

I try to maintain my composure when I hear of SARS or an Ebola outbreak. I dig deep inside and try to maintain my dignity as it’s easy to become afraid of the unknown.

But I still give bad advice to colleagues.

Some things never change.

GET TO BED! I went to the meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee on Monday to hear about budget projections. While there, I picked up a 2015 survey of the Montana Law Enforcement Academy, which just graduated 53 new officers on Friday.

The survey apparently asks administrators from Montana enforcement agencies their opinion of the academy and various courses and quality of staff, etc. One of the questions was that the academy may ask lawmakers for a new dorm and would the law enforcement administrators support a 10-15 percent increase in course tuition to help offset operational costs?

An overwhelmingly majority said yes.

But I was amused by one of the questions regarding curfew. There is no curfew policy and problems sometimes arise when some students return to the campus after midnight, the survey says. The administrators are asked if a curfew of midnight should be set when classes are 8 a.m. the next morning.

A majority said yes, but it didn’t stop there.

Some said the curfew should be 10 p.m., and added that the officers’ actions reflect on the department.

“Nothing good happens after 10 p.m. nuff said,” one wrote.

WAKE UP, PHIL: One reader claims the “real story” behind Lt. Gov. Angela McLean leaving has to do with the fact that just days later her father-in-law, David Michael McLean, 75, of Anaconda, received 42 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Would this have hurt Gov. Steve Bullock’s re-election chances? Any thoughts?

Mike Dennison of MTN news had an interesting story Friday showing that Bullock and his administration had a strained relationship with McLean and had considered replacing her on the 2016 ticket since early this year.

He also reported that McLean had become largely isolated on the job by early October.

I also see the Montana Cowgirl blog says former state representative and U.S. Senate candidate Amanda Curtis, Department of Labor and Industry Chief Pam Bucy and Secretary of State Linda McCulloch are prompting discussion as a possible replacement. I’ve had people tell me about Bucy, but I had not heard the other names.